There's been a lot of verbiage about whether the COVIDsafe app works. There's one aspect that's been missed, though. /1
To date, COVIDsafe data has been accessed more than 300 times, and it has not yielded any contact information that hadn't already been yielded by manual contact tracers. /2
So that gets into an incredibly boring discussion about whether it "works" -- It's producing the same contacts that humans do, so there's an aspect of "works" right there; But it's no better or more efficient than humans, so perhaps it's not doing what it says on the tin. /3
There's another dimension to it, though. The fact that more than 300 data sets have been examined by contact tracers has meant that it's consumed substantial contact tracer time /4
Time is a valuable resource. And, for those 300+ data sets at least, we know in hindsight that asking contact tracing specialists to spend their time on *almost anything else whatsoever* would have yielded greater public health benefit than asking them to vet COVIDsafe data. /5
If COVIDsafe had never existed, they wouldn't have spent that time. This would probably translate into incrementally greater capacity to contact trace other cases. All COVIDsafe has done so far is *distract them* from the good work they're otherwise doing. /6
So, with the results we've seen so far (and coupled with results from other countries, which appear no better than ours), one question that should be examined is: "Is COVIDsafe a net detriment to Australia's public health response to COVID-19?" /7
As a citizen, are you helping our public health capability more by NOT having the app on your phone than you are by having it? Is it actually causing harm? /8
Personally: I'm not using it. I have enabled Google Maps location history on my phone, because if I ever need to be contact traced I'll have an accurate handy-dandy memory jogger to say where I was and when, and I'll remember what I was doing and who I was with. /9
And frankly I trust Google more with the data than the Australian Government. Hell, I trust *FACEBOOK* with personal data more than I trust the Australian Government. At least I know what they're going to do with it and whether they have my best interests at heart, right? /10
Based on what we know so far, I think I can inform my local health dept better and more accurately than anything they'll ever get from the COVIDsafe app, without wasting their time. I'm doing my bit, more effectively than DTA and Stuart Robert's department. /11
It's possible that stance could change in the future, but I don't think it will. I think the evidence-free assertion that we can save the world with a phone app is silly tech-utopianism, silicon snake oil. /12
And, on balance, I've been slowly forming the view that COVIDsafe is harmful to Australia, making our public health response worse. /end
